Review – Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Release Date: January 12, 2021
ASIN : B0871BLSQ8
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed for Kindle from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Deep in the wood lives a witch queen and her eight tree siren daughters. For centuries, they have harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow their ever reaching kingdom of ash, birch, and oak.
Owen Merrick lives at the edge of the forest, mapping the stars for the king in his father’s observatory. For years, he has resisted venturing over the garden wall, until one day he must enter the woods to find his missing sister. But one of the witch’s tree siren daughters, Seren, decides to save his life instead of end it. Now, no matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop thinking about her ― the birch-bright hue of her skin and the way violets bloom in her hair. Every night, he goes into the wood to meet her, and their love for each other grows.
But when the constellations shift, the stars foretell an inevitable war between the witch queen and the king. With Seren compelled to fight for her mother, and Owen forced to join the king’s army, they are plunged into the heart of a conflict that seemingly no one can win and that might destroy both their kingdoms forever.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this from my Kindle through the library.
Story (4/5): This was a decent story. I liked the creepy woods and how the story of the witch and her siren’s tie back into some historical events that happened with the king and the kingdom. There is some adventure here, some politics, and some romance. It was generally well done.
Characters (4/5): The characters here were interesting. At times Owen seemed very naive given what he’s been through. I did enjoy the close relationship he had with his family though. Seren was much more intriguing as she tried to navigate the intricacies of being a siren dryad versus a human. The witch queen was delightfully evil and I enjoyed her as well.
Setting (4/5): This is a pretty typical fantasy setting. The kingdom feels very generic. I enjoyed the dark and enchanted woods. I also enjoyed the idea of souls and hearts being separate energies and liked how those things affected the aspects of the characters that had them.
Writing Style (4/5): This was a quick and easy read, some parts of the book were a bit slow. I found some elements of the story intriguing and enjoyed them. Ultimately though I am finding (even a few days after reading this) that this was a pretty forgettable story for me. It has a very retro fantasy feel to it but not a lot of elements that were really thought-provoking or really stuck with me.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a decent book that I enjoyed reading. It’s a beautifully written fantasy story that has a very retro feel to it. I loved some of the magic around souls and hearts and enjoyed Owen’s tight relationship with his family. However, it ended being fairly forgettable and didn’t have a lot of elements that really grabbed my attention and made me think. I did read Meyer’s “Into Echo North” previous to reading this book and really loved that book, I am looking forward to the continuation of that series in 2022.
